Silly Things
by niallbranson
Summary: Bethyl AU (Inspired by Emma): Patricia and Otis just got married and Beth would like to think that she had a lot to do with her godmother finding her happily ever after, thank you very much. Daryl would beg to disagree, not that that should surprise Beth. Instead of listening to whatever grumpy Daryl Dixon has to say, she decides to put her match-making talents to good use.


A/N: I published this on tumblr a week or so ago and since I'm going to be continuing it, I decided to just post it here. It's an Emma inspired AU and I'll be featuring a lot of the original TWD characters in it in some of the roles from the original story. Review and follow and favorite and all that fun stuff. I love hearing from you all!

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"Aren't weddings the best?" Beth asks Daryl as she plops down next to him on the sofa. He gives her a skeptical look before returning his attention to the cufflinks on his shirt, trying to get them undone.

"The best at what?" He mumbles; tongue between his lips and his face going a little red as the cuffs of his shirt refused to come undone. He wasn't used to dressing up and the Georgia heat was making him stuffy in all the layers of his tux. Beth rolls her eyes and scoots closer to him, swatting his hands apart and bring them to her lap, effortlessly snapping the cufflinks off.

"What do you think?"

Daryl raises a brow at her and shrugs.

"They're the best at wasting money? Making families hate one another? Making gossip?"

"Do you always have to be so cynical and grumpy?" She asks him with narrowed eyes, dropping the cufflinks into his hand. He gives her a boyish smile, just as sarcastic as his previous statement and nods.

"Uhum...it's part of my charm."

She sighs but doesn't argue. She's known Daryl almost her entire life and no matter how much she rants and raves, she's learned that she can't change Daryl Dixon's mind.

"Anyway," she continues; deciding to not let Daryl dampen her mood. "This wedding's special."

"Yeah? How's that?"

Beth waits for one of the wedding guests that had wandered into the house to make his way back outside to the reception before speaking up again.

"Well because I _am _responsible for bringing Otis and Patricia together."

Daryl turns to look at her as if she's just spoken in a different language and she laughs and nudges him a little. Surely he must remember.

"I was the one that got daddy to hire Otis in the first place."

Daryl didn't look convinced. "Otis _applied_ for the position to be Hershel's assistant, Beth."

"Yeah but I looked at his resume and I just knew he'd be a good fit for the farm. I practically _made _daddy hire him. Then when he got here, I told Patricia to ask him out for lunch because they clearly liked each other. And look! I was right!" She smiled, pleased with herself and Daryl could do nothing but shake his head. Most days he wouldn't back down from a good argument with Beth, it was endearing really, to see her try to beat him with words. She had the quickest wit of anyone Daryl knew; even if she didn't always think before speaking.

"I was right about Maggie and Glenn too." She added; and at this Daryl couldn't hold his tongue.

"They met in college. You weren't even there!"

"But when they first met and Maggie came home for christmas she didn't even want to text him back. I practically had to make her." She smiled winningly at him and not for the first time in his life Daryl found himself wishing she was a little less pretty. It might make it easier to point out the flaws in her logic sometimes. "I should do this for a living."

Daryl snorted. "As opposed to what you do for a living now?" Beth didn't exactly have a job. She'd gone to a local university to get a degree in teaching but refused to use it, claiming that she was needed at home. Hershel of course, was only too happy to keep his sweet "Bethy" around as long as he could.

"I do things! I volunteer at the elementary school twice a week. I work on the farm!"

Daryl looked confused. "You take the horses out to ride them. That's not really much help."

"Well no one else is going to do it." She said as if it should be obvious. When Daryl had nothing to say to her, they sat in silence for a few moments, watching guests leave and listening to the music outside slow down. Daryl chanced a glance at the young woman next to him and couldn't help but smile. She really did look beautiful but he would never tell her. She'd been told by plenty of people in the past few hours already and he knew she was well aware of it. Vain would never be a word he would use to describe Beth. No; she was much too sweet to be vain but _aware _was a word that came to mind. She knew exactly the affect her big blue eyes and pretty smile had on _everyone. _He was a handful of years older than her and he'd watched her grow from a sweet, bubbly girl to a gorgeous woman. But she was also clever and kind and always, always well-meaning, which was something he tried to keep in mind when he found himself scolding her for whatever messes she managed to get herself into. Sometimes he felt less like Hershel's mechanic and more like Beth's babysitter.

"Shane's single." She said suddenly. Daryl frowned but was still too deep in his thoughts to fully process what she'd said. "Maybe I should help him find someone next."

Daryl groaned; he was beginning to see the beginnings of what would no doubt be a catastrophe. "Oh no, Beth. Just leave it alone alright? I think two couples is a pretty solid record. Don't push your luck."

"But he never dates-"

"He doesn't like to date." He interrupted. He knew exactly the kind of guy Shane Walsh was and there was a _reason _he didn't ever have a girlfriend. Somehow it felt indelicate to expose Shane's escapades to Beth. "I don't date." He offered instead, to try and reinforce his point. Beth simply waved him off.

"Yeah but you're...you. You _never_ date." That wasn't exactly true. He'd had his fair share of girlfriends. Some more serious than others. Beth simply didn't know about them. He tried not to think too hard about _why _he never wanted to share that part of his life with her or why he couldn't even bring himself to mention a woman he was seeing in front of Beth. He tried to not think about how similar this unknown motivation felt to that nagging feeling he'd had for six months straight when Beth dated Jimmy: some guy Hershel had hired to help out on the farm.

He lifted his gaze to find that not only had Beth stood from her place next to him, she had a hand extended towards him and a smile on her face.

"Come dance with me, Grumpy."

He shook his head. He hated dancing.

"If you don't, I'm just going to go find an available woman to dance with Shane."

With a smirk and a small sigh, he took her small hand in his and lifted himself from the sofa, following her back outside where the sun was setting and now only the closest friends of the newlyweds remained. There wasn't any awkwardness between them. Her arms went around his neck and his to her waist with no hesitation, they knew each other far to well to worry about silly things like formalities and personal space. They swayed to the music and Beth snuggled in closer to him, tilting her head back to give him a signature disarming smile.

"Admit it: weddings are great."

"Great for what?" He answered immediately.

"Dancing."

Daryl wished he had the will power to argue back.


End file.
